Where are we at with the implementation of new drugs? by Dr Fuad Mirzayev, Medical Officer of Laboratories, Diagnostics & Drug Resistance Unit of the Global TB program, World Health Organization, Geneva

List of Participants

Patients and TB: Improving treatment outcomes through a patient centred approach and access to new treatments

The Ministry of Labour , Health and Social Affairs of Georgia and the international medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF) are pleased to welcome the participants and guests attending the 5th Regional Tuberculosis Symposium for Central Asia and Eastern Europe, which will take place in Tbilisi on 22d and 22d March 2016.

This scientific forum is bringing together a delegation of 180 participants and speakers: representatives from the Ministries of Health of the region, experts from MSF as well as other national and international organizations and donor agencies such as the World Health Organization and the Global Fund, among others.

The symposium will focus on “Patients and TB: Improving treatment outcomes through a patient centred approach and access to new treatments”. It aims at sharing information and experiences on new developments in the fight against tuberculosis, and particularly against the drug-resistant forms of the disease (DR-TB), which are a public health concern in the region.

“This scientific forum gives the opportunity to the international and local experts, TB specialists and involved parties to share their experiences and discuss the challenges”, said Dr. Valeri Kvaratskhelia, Deputy Minister of Health of Georgia, in his welcome message to participants. “Georgia was one of the first countries to introduce the new TB drugs. [Today], the Ministry is planning to modify the National Tuberculosis Program and updating of the National TB Strategy, in order to maintain the results of the investment already made and improving the outcomes of TB treatment”.

“This symposium re-affirms the commitment of MSF to work with countries in the region and find new, more effective ways to tackle DR-TB”, says Dr. Sylvie Goossens, MSF representative in Georgia. “In recent years, MSF has been helping patients to gain access to new drugs that can save their lives. Now we intend to increase their number, run clinical research of new regimens, and continue working with our partners to simplify the treatments and make them easier to bear for patients”.

I'm just tired of being a TB patient

Imipenem at home - Marta

Relieving the burden of care patients

Vartan, MDR patient

V-DOT in Armenia

Why should these little bacteria kill me?

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that has been delivering medical care to people affected by armed conflicts, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare since 1971. Today, MSF has operations in nearly 70 countries.
MSF and tuberculosis - MSF has been involved in tuberculosis (TB) care for 30 years, often working alongside national health authorities to treat patients in a wide variety of settings, including chronic conflict zones, urban slums, prisons, refugee camps and rural areas. MSF’s first programmes to treat multidrug-resistant TB opened in 1999, and the organisation is now one of the largest NGO treatment providers of drug-resistant TB. In 2013, the organisation treated 29,900 patients with TB worldwide, including 1,950 patients with drug-resistant TB.